Watch Indian Institute of Astrophysics stream of today’s partial solar eclipse LIVE from Hanle, Ladakh. Stream beings 4PM IST
Tag Archives: sun
Images from the Partial Solar Eclipse of Oct 23rd 2014
[slideshow_deploy id=’2343’]
Its rare for one to live in a place where the heavens just decide to show you their wonder. The path of Oct 23rds eclipse wen right through Minneapolis, USA where I currently live. Not to miss this, i loaded my scope and filter in the car, and set it up at my workplace’s parking lot right after work. The sight that made the eclipse special was the massive sunspot AR2192 which is as big as Jupiter. As seen from here. the maximum of the eclipse about ~ 50% was able to obscure some part of the sunspot.
Another thing that was interesting was the ability to resolve surface limb features on the moon. Contrary to what one would imagine, the moon has a very rocky terrain, since there is no wind, water or volcanic activity to smooth out the surface. Looking carefully we can see this detail in the images above
Some EXIF info
Taken using a Canon Rebel XT at prime focus on a 5″ MCT telescope F/12
ISO100, 1/2000 s exposure
Baader Astrosolar safety filter
Sunspot 2158 Erupts. X-Class Solar flare will reach Earth Fri, 12/09/14
| Sunspot 2158 eurupted on Wednesday 10/9 at 1746UTC, hurling an X-Class solar flare right towards us. The flare is scheduled to reach on Friday, A radiation flash from the explosion ionized the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere, disturbing HF radio communications for more than an hour. More importantly, the explosion hurled a CME directly toward Earth. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory photographed the expanding cloud |
|
What to Expect?
Auroras
Radio Storms
HF Communication issues
Pandemonium and chaos… nope kidding about this one 😛
Annular Eclipse 2010: Project Shadow
After a very successful Total Solar Eclipse watch on July 22nd. The Amateur Astronomers Association is now packing its bag to go to yet another location to view The Annular Solar Eclipse on January 15, 2010, and this time at an even greater scale.
AAAD this time will be at 4 different locations capturing and showing public this beautiful celestial event
The first team is off to Kanyakumari (at the center line) The Second one at a spot below chennai(the eastern edge of the eclipse line), third at varkala, Kerala(the western edge of the eclipse line)and off course there will be Amitabh Pandey who will be on his mountain bicycle some where between all the teams showing the night sky to the locals (he will join one of the teams on the eclipse day).
The forth and the most important one at The Nehru Planetarium, Delhi in the Teen Murti lawns, doing a Public Sky Watch from here,
As the crowds here can go into thousands.So preparing for it, we are having a dress rehearsal of the eclipse watch on Januaray 3rd, 2010.
All Amateur Astronomers are hereby invited to come for the preparation of the Eclipse Watch (on Jan 3rd)and volunteer for it(on Jan 15th)
The preparation Dress Rehearsal is on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 ,12 noon onwards:
Be There
Attendance of all participating AAAD members would be mandatory
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE JULY 22nd 2009
Mark your calendars folks, its surya-grahana time in India again. Come July 2009 the moon will eclipse the sun as seen from India, Bhutan,Bangladesh,China, Japan and the Marshall Islands. Its going to be the longest solar eclipse for over a century and guess what, this time the path of totality passes through India. This eclipse pass over India comes after almost a decade. The last two eclipses happened in 1999 and 1995.
Totality
The eclipse begins on the 22nd of July 2009 at around 5:30 am IST in India and spends almost two hours passing the subcontinent. The path of totality will pass through central India passing over Surat, Ujjain, Baroda, Bhopal, Patna, Darjeeling, and Dibrugarh in the far east. Rest assured the Bohemians will be out there somewhere chasing the eclipse.!!!!
Click to Enlarge
Circumstances of the Eclipse
For a full list of Eclipse circumstances CLICK HERE
Eclipse Safety : Observing Eclipse Do”s and Don”ts
 |
Before we go on I must warn you to NEVER EVER look at the sun especially the PARTIAL PHASE through unprotected eyes or homebrewn filtering mechanisms. |
The use of homebrewn filters is recommended to seasoned astronomers only who understand the risks involved! There are however very simple ways to observe an eclipse without putting your eyes in harm”s way
One of the simplest method to observe the sun safely is through a pinhole projection camera. This can be used for viewing the partial phases of the eclipse. During totality however, it is perfectly safe to watch the eclipse naked eye.
To learn how to make a pinhole camera CLICK HERE
Alternatively you may use a solar filter
The first thing you must remember is that the human eye has no nerve endings, so if you burn your retina, it will not hurt. 😛 , which is all the more reason that caution is advised while observing the sun
It is never safe to look at a partial or annular eclipse, or the partial phases of a total solar eclipse, without the proper equipment and techniques. Even when 99% of the Sun”s surface (the photosphere) is obscured during the partial phases of a solar eclipse. This is primarily because nearing totality the ambient light levels become so less that our pupils dilate and the iris tries to allow in more light into the eye.
During the partial phase any surge in sunlight, like the one seen during a diamond ring formation can cause excessive solar radiation entering the eye and causing a burn on the retina.
In spite of these precautions, the total phase of an eclipse can and should be viewed without any filters whatsoever. The naked eye view of totality is not only completely safe, it is truly breathtaking
=============================================================
UPDATES
Update: May 29d 2009
AAAD Observation Plans 
Update: March 3rd 2009
The Solar Eclipse: Facts, Fiction and Pregnant Women
Update: March 2nd 2009
Average Cloud Cover along the Central Line of the Eclipse